Cooking

Cabbage is one of our oldest vegetables and continues to be a dietary staple and a fairly inexpensive food. It is easy to grow, tolerates the cold and is rich in vitamin C and fiber.
Just cut up some fresh cabbage, sprinkle it with lemon and enjoy it as a mid-day snack. Or, use it with your favorite tossed salad or pasta dish; or, my favorite, make some fresh cabbage soup.

Almost every morning, millions of Americans reach for that cup of “Joe” to help wake up. At our house, it sometimes takes two pots to be able to speak or think clearly.
Not only is coffee the beverage of choice for most Americans to help jump start their days, but when consumed in moderation, coffee also has many health benefits.
It’s not just for drinking anymore. With its strong, earthy, slightly bitter flavor, coffee can help to create complex flavors and add those flavors to many different dishes.

Ice cream is made by mixing cream, sugar and flavorings (like chocolate or strawberry) and then carefully lowering the mixture’s temperature until it sets. Using salt to help control the temperature of the ingredients, along with the invention of the home ice cream freezer, was a major breakthrough in creating ice cream as we now know it.

Few of us have the time to make fresh pasta at home, except maybe for a special occasion. Most of the time, it’s just commercially prepared dry pasta out of a box. But when properly cooked, good quality commercially prepared pasta can taste just as good as making it at home.
Cooking pasta is as easy as boiling water, but it does require a little care. Use about a quart of water per quarter pound of pasta, or six quarts per pound. The pasta will be become slightly gummy if you don’t use enough water.

I was born and raised in Canton, Ohio, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Growing up in northeastern Ohio, I soon learned there was only one sport played in that area—football. From the sandlots, to Pee-Wee League, to Junior League, to high school, to college, to pro football…football was and still is king.
My wife, Karen, and I were married in May 1966 and we (she) raised two football players (what else?), Sean and Aaron, and called Akron, Ohio, our home until retiring to southeastern coastal North Carolina in 2001.

Steak Diane was popular back in the ’50s and ’60s at most of the fancy restaurants, but this fabulous dish can easily be made at home.
I prefer using strip steaks pounded down to about one-half inch thick, if needed. If you prefer, tenderloin also works well.

This week, I thought I would post some of my favorite recipes and one that seems to be a favorite, or at least the most requested, by readers.
Even though it’s a relatively easy recipe with few ingredients (only one, if you don’t count salt and pepper), the baking temperature and time still seem to be a puzzlement. We’re talking about cooking a beef eye of round in the oven.

Whenever you can’t think of what to prepare for your evening meal, do you instinctively grab the phone to order some Chinese take-out food? If you do, why not try making some Chinese take-out at home? It’s a lot easier to prepare than you might think.
You don’t need a lot of special cookware or fancy ingredients to prepare some great Chinese food. Just use items you already have in your pantry. You don’t even need to own a wok. Just use any frying pan (the deeper the better). If you do own a wok, all the better.
Use items in your pantry

From time to time, we all have allowed food to become burnt, overcooked, over-seasoned or just simply allowed to go bad before even using it. For most of us, mistakes do happen. Sometimes we just pitch the results and start all over again. Other times, we’re just stuck with whatever is currently smoldering in the pan, but all is not lost.

Many years ago when I was single, I thought I knew everything about cooking, so I attempted to make my first beef stew.
I had friends coming over in about an hour or so and I was short on time. The recipe said to brown the meat, a messy and time-consuming step, so I thought.
I decided to ignore this instruction and just skip to the next step, just dumping the raw beef chunks into the stewing liquid.